Kael stepped in front of her. He was not a Golden Core. He was not a cultivator. He was just a
man. A man who was, in this moment, the calmest, most absolute thing in the entire, screaming
universe. He faced the burning, 20-foot Asura. He faced the sun of pure annihilation. And he
raised his hand.
"YOU MOCK ME?!" Yan Fei screamed, his rage reaching a fever pitch. "DIE! DIE! DIE!" He
hurled the Bloodflame-Sun. It fell from the sky, a meteor of pure, world-ending hate, aimed at
the man who dared to defy it. It was going to wipe out half the city.
"[AEGIS OF RETRIBUTION]." Kael spoke the words. The world did not shake. There was no
bronze bell. A shield appeared in front of him. It was not a physical thing. It was not bronze. It
was a simple, circular, platinum-white disc of pure, incorporeal light. It was a concept. The
concept of "No." The Bloodflame-Sun, an attack of pure Golden Core demonic rage... Hit the
shield. And... vanished.
There was no sound. There was no explosion. There was no impact. The sun, the heat, the
power, the hate... it just... flowed into the platinum disc. It was... absorbed. Eaten. Nullified. In
less than a second, the black-red sun was gone. The sky was clear. There was only the 20-foot
Asura, his hands outstretched, his burning eyes wide with an impossible, mind-shattering
confusion. And Kael. Standing, his arm still raised. The platinum shield was now pulsing with a
contained, unholy amount of stolen power.
"I... what..." Yan Fei stammered. "I... IT'S NOT... POSSIBLE!" Kael looked at him. His eyes were
pure, platinum light. "You are an imbalance," he said, his voice echoing Lin Yue's. "You are a
threat." He lowered his arm, and the shield dissolved, the power flowing into his open palm,
which was now a swirling vortex of pure, white light. "My turn." He aimed his hand at the
stunned Asura.
"[RETRIBUTION]!" He unleashed the Aegis. It was not a beam of fire, or ice, or Qi. It was a
beam of pure, Vow-based light. A torrent of conviction. And it contained the entire, full-power,
Golden Core, demonic-Asura, "Bloodflame-Sun" attack. It was Yan Fei's own power, purified of
its demonic nature and weaponized by Kael's Vow.
The beam, a blinding shaft of pure white, hit Yan Fei. The Asura-armor disintegrated. The
Bloodflame... was extinguished. The demonic path... was unraveled. Yan Fei, stripped of his
power, his madness, his armor, was left as just... a man, floating in the air, his face a mask of
pure, existential terror. "I... I..." The beam did not stop. It hit him. He did not burn. He did not
freeze. He... evaporated. He was unmade, erased from existence by a power so absolute and
so antithetical to his own that he simply... ceased. The beam continued into the black-red sky...
and tore it apart. The sun... the real sun... shone through. Kael held the beam for a second
longer, sweeping it across the sky, purging the last of the Bloodflame Qi from the world. Then,
he lowered his hand. [Stamina: 1000/1000 -> 500/1000] He stumbled, just one step. Silence.
The city... was quiet. The terror was gone. The oppression... was gone. It was over. Kael turned.
Lin Yue was staring at him, her eyes wide, tears streaming down her face, her hand over her
mouth. He gave her a small, tired, Kael-smile. "Told you," he panted. "I'd be here." He collapsed.
She caught him.